I've enjoyed Mr. Flannegan's movies before this one. But right from the start Before I Wake got on my nerves. You've got the perfect couple living in an amazing house without any visible means of support. What do they do for work? The kid is ridiculously adorable mini-Bieber with a cutie-pie pout and way of speaking. Perfect perfect perfect. It's pure Hollywood fantasy.
Then there's the usual holes in the think-through of the basic concept. Like, how did the people at the orphanage (or wherever the kid was staying between foster parents) not know about his weird powers? How come no one ever thought to take him to some doctors/scientists to figure out what was going on? (The Exorcist got this part right and was all the scarier for it) How come 'let them go' results in just one release? (though we see multiples coming loose from the roots). How come the wife seems oh so fine with the situation as it stands at the end of the movie?
I get that this is a fantasy movie... but if EVERYTHING is unbelievable/implausible then the fantasy elements are lessened and just more of the same nonsense.
Yes, the movie is well made, the acting is fine. My gripe, as usual, is with the writing... with the way the characters don't behave like real people. Except for a bit of spooky stuff this could have been kids movie about a magical boy living in a magical land full of magic. So my end opinion is, 'Ick!'
Then there's the usual holes in the think-through of the basic concept. Like, how did the people at the orphanage (or wherever the kid was staying between foster parents) not know about his weird powers? How come no one ever thought to take him to some doctors/scientists to figure out what was going on? (The Exorcist got this part right and was all the scarier for it) How come 'let them go' results in just one release? (though we see multiples coming loose from the roots). How come the wife seems oh so fine with the situation as it stands at the end of the movie?
I get that this is a fantasy movie... but if EVERYTHING is unbelievable/implausible then the fantasy elements are lessened and just more of the same nonsense.
Yes, the movie is well made, the acting is fine. My gripe, as usual, is with the writing... with the way the characters don't behave like real people. Except for a bit of spooky stuff this could have been kids movie about a magical boy living in a magical land full of magic. So my end opinion is, 'Ick!'